"The Devil made me do it" -- Barack Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "do.rflex" <do.rf...@...> wrote: > > > What Caused the Budget Deficit? > by Matthew Yglesias > > > David Leonhardt has a nice article breaking down the sources > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10leonhardt.html?hp> > of the growth in the budget deficit. Since Leonhardt works for The New > York Times rather than USA Today, they didn't see fit to illustrate > his article with a pie chart, but I made one myself: > [deficit] > "The first category the business cycle accounts > for 37 percent of the $2 trillion swing." > > Second, Bush-era legislation "like his tax cuts and the > Medicare prescription drug benefit, [that] not only continue to cost the > government but have also increased interest payments on the national > debt." > > Third, "Obama's main contribution to the deficit is his > extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for > households making less than $250,000 [...] 20 percent of the swing." > > Fourth, "About 7 percent comes from the stimulus bill that Mr. > Obama signed in February." > > Fifth, "only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama's agenda on > health care, education, energy and other areas." > > > > > In other words, the very high deficits are not Obama's fault > according to any normal way of assessing political blame... > > More here: http://snipurl.com/rtyig [yglesias_thinkprogress_org] >
